Canvas Accessibility

"Accessibility: It's about people" - World Wide Web Consortium on addressing the needs of diverse abilities. Digital accessibility in higher education ensures all learners, regardless of disability, temporary barrier, health condition, or other need, can access and fully engage with your content. Beyond accommodating disclosed issues through Student Disability Services, digital accessibility is a proactive, ethical commitment to equity and excellence at UIW. Practical strategies that shape your everyday behaviors are key to success. This article equips instructors with ten essential skills to begin meeting digital accessibility standards, foster an inclusive learning environment, and increase Ally scores in Canvas. Skill 1: Select Compliant Assets & Content Responsibly selecting tech products and content is equally as important as ensuring your own content meets compliance standards. Be aware content creators overlook digital accessibility, commonly excluding the use of headings, alt text, captions, and more. Scrutinize both free materials and purchased products, even those from reputable companies. Contact the author to request they fix their media before using it in your course or select alternative materials. Confirm webpages you link to are accessible with ANDI, another accessibility browser extension, or using a variety of accessibility evaluation tools. Examples for Selecting Accessible Content ✔ Rather than select a YouTube anatomy video without captions, locate an anatomy video with captions and watch to confirm accuracy. ✔ Rather than use pdf ebooks that score low when uploaded in Canvas, search for alternative educational content that scores higher. Skill 2: Monitor Your Own Compliance Many products come with features that check the accessibility of your content while you create it, but they may not be accurate. Office applications have the Microsoft Accessibility Checker and a robust collection of M365 accessibility resources. Save time by creating a compliant template to use repeatedly. Ensure documents are accessible within the editing program before saving to PDF. The Rich Content Editor (RCE) accessibility checker gives you feedback anywhere you type in Canvas. Work toward a 100% report score in Ally when creating your Canvas courses. Recognize accessibility checkers are not perfect, don't rely on the feedback alone. Examples for Monitoring Your Own Content ✔ Even if Word Accessibility Checker indicates no issues with your document, you include alt text, headings, and format for readability. ✔ When content in your Canvas course shows a red or orange indicator, you investigate the issue and correct it. ✔ Although Ally does not check for transcripts or captions, you ensure all videos in your Canvas courses have transcript and caption accessibility features. Word, Canvas RCE, & Ally Accessibility Checkers Skill 3: Write Clearly & Concisely Digital accessibility begins with simplifying the communication of complex ideas to improve comprehension. Explain in shorter sentences and paragraphs. Write instructions that reflect expected workflow. Ensure details are aligned across all the places you reference them. Use bullets or numbered lists when appropriate. Examples for Accessible Writing Writing Before Accessibility Considerations Writing After Editing for Accessibility In accordance with the latest research findings and after thorough analysis of the data collected over the past semester, it has been determined that there is a significant correlation between the amount of time spent on studying and the improvement in students' academic performance. Recent research shows a significant correlation between study time and improved academic performance. Due to the fact that the patient is experiencing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is commonly referred to by its abbreviation COPD, and has a history of smoking for a duration of over twenty years, it is highly recommended that they cease smoking immediately to improve their respiratory function and overall health status. The patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and a 20-year smoking history should stop smoking immediately to improve respiratory function and overall health. To successfully complete this project, you need to follow several important steps. First, you should conduct thorough research on the topic to gather all necessary information. Next, create an outline to organize your findings and plan the structure of your project. Once the outline is ready, start drafting the content, ensuring that each section is clear and concise. After completing the draft, review and revise your work to improve clarity and coherence. Then, proofread the entire document to correct any grammatical errors and ensure that it meets all the requirements. Last, save the document with your last name and course section in the file name to submit in Canvas. To complete this project: Conduct thorough research on the topic to gather all necessary information. Create an outline to organize your findings and plan the structure of your project. Save the document with your last name and course section in the file name. Draft the content, ensuring that each section is clear and concise. Review and revise your work to improve clarity and coherence. Proofread the entire document to correct any grammatical errors and ensure it meets the requirements. Submit in Canvas. Skill 4: Choose High Color Contrast Create better visibility, as low vision, color blindness, and lighting challenges can impact a person's ability to see your information. Check the contrast ratio of colors you select are high enough. Craft an accessible color palette at the start of your project, before creating documents, images, or slide decks. Avoid color issues, including combining red with green and yellow with blue, pastel shades on light backgrounds, and text on textures. Know that the monitor, projector, room lights, and sunlight can all impact visibility. Examples for Accessible Color Choices ✔ Rather than two shades of blue with a 2:1 contrast ratio, use a dark blue font on a light grey background with a 5:1 contrast ratio. ✔ Skip placing text on a busy image background in favor of visuals designed that stand out. Skill 5: Consistently Format & Use Headings Consistency and hierarchical structure enhance readability of digital content, while style elements ensure the functionality of assistive technology. To properly format documents and Canvas content: Use sans-serif fonts like Aptos, Arial, Verdana, or Helvetica, which are easier to read on screens. Use headings, subheadings, and enough white space to break up your content. Heading 1 is for your title, then heading 2 for major sections, heading 3 for subsections within the heading 2 sections, etc. - Skipping heading hierarchy is inaccessible. Use a minimum 12-point font for paragraph text, but 24-point or larger on slide decks. Formatting guidelines also work when creating Outlook emails, PowerPoint slides, Excel spreadsheets, Canvas Pages, and any other web applications you decide to use. Examples for Accessible Formatting ✔ A document is set with Heading 1 for the title. ✔ Line spacing is adjusted so the content is easier to read online. ✔ Headings and subheadings create hierarchy to make it easier to listen with a screen reader. Comparing Text Before and After Formatting for Accessibility Skill 6: Convey Meaning Beyond Using Color While color is used to grab attention and highlight importance, reconsider the use of color alone to convey meaning. When color conveys meaning, add a secondary labeling method. Use a colorblind filter to verify web content is visible. Select color pairs safe for colorblindness. Know that not all screen readers announce bold, underline, or italics. Examples for Accessibly Conveying Meaning ✔ You instruct students to meet at a location with a parking map; Instead of saying park in the blue lot, you also provide a lot number. ✔ When writing identification test questions, ensure color selections correspond with labeled answer choices. Skill 7: Use Keywords & Underline Hyperlinks Like the links in this guide, provide context for the topic or purpose behind visiting the web address you want to share. Add your link to a few descriptive words rather than click here, read more, or an entire sentence. Use a high contrast color and underline links if the program you're using doesn't do this by default - many do. Don't paste the entire web address as screen readers convey this information one letter/number at a time, making them difficult to decipher. Know people can right-click your link to get the full web address if they need it. Examples for Accessible Links Link Formatting Issues Links After Revisions For more information on accessible hyperlinks, click here. Watch how to make accessible hyperlinks. Learn more about making meaningful links by visiting this website https://www.wcag.com/blog/writing-meaningful-link-text/ Read more about writing meaningful link text. Skill 8: Include Alt Text for Images or Mark Decorative Alternative text, commonly referred to as alt text, is a written description when images communicate important information or represent a function, otherwise images are marked decorative. Alt text conveys useful details only. Avoid redundant explanations. If the page text explains, alt text does not need to repeat it. Avoid images of text, such as scanned pdf documents or screen shots of a table or paragraph. alt="" is the html code for decorative images if your program does not have a built-in feature to select. Know alt text is read out loud for anyone using a screen reader, but it is also visible to anyone if their computer is unable to display the image for any reason. Examples for Accessible Images ✔ An hourglass icon used with "Required Assignment" as a text heading is marked decorative. ✔ Alt text for an image of red blood cells used in a lesson on hematology: Red blood cells get their color from hemoglobin. ✔ Alt text for images used to create linked buttons states the destination such as Week 1 Module, Week 2 Module, or Week 3 Module. Skill 9: Use Simple Tables for Data Reserve the use of tables for data only, rather than for arranging your content layout. Keep your table simple and deliver information pertaining to one topic. Include a table caption and format a header row. Separate each piece of data into its own cell. Do not merge cells. Do not use images of tables, particularly when building quizzes and exams. Examples for Accessible Tables Inaccessible Tables Accessible Tables Skill 10: Media Descriptions, Transcripts, & Captions When making audio and video, ensure visuals are audible and sounds are visible. For all audio and video, provide a written transcript and synced captions - remember, what is heard can be read. For video recordings with visual elements not explained within the dialogue, provide audio descriptions - remember, what is seen can be heard. Know that transcript generation takes time, the process is not instantaneous, and delays can occur. Examples for Accessible Audio and Video ✔ Use any recording product but save your media file to OneDrive to create a transcript and captions with Stream/Clipchamp. ✔ Create audio and video with transcripts and captions in Canvas Studio. ✔ Create or find video with audio descriptions. Digital Accessibility Video Training Digital Accessibility Resources While the skills in this article make a substantial difference, we encourage all content creators to learn more about digital accessibility: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 OTLT Accessibility Video Library Canvas Digital Accessibility Help Guides Tips for Writing Visual Design Considerations Creating Accessible Media Digital Accessibility in Education: ADA Title II Compliance Americans with Disabilities Act Title II Regulations World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility in Mind US Department of Education Universal Design for Learning in Higher Ed

In accordance with the US Department of Justice April 2024 compliance expectations for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 Levels A and AA, the Instructional Technology team is creating a resource to help you evaluate your technology tools before the April 26, 2027 deadline. Please check back in Summer 2025.

MS Stream makes video captions simple to help viewers who: Are unable to hear due to disability, trauma, or malfunctioning assistive devices. Do not have headphones or earbuds and can't turn sound on in their current location. Find it easier to focus or comprehend the video content by reading along. This guide covers the caption option for viewers, accessing Stream features, and the transcript controls available to ensure your videos are accessible to all viewers. Captions Option for Viewers When you save a video to OneDrive or SharePoint, the audio in your video file is auto generated into a transcript in Stream. That transcript gives viewers the CC button in the Stream video player. It's important to know how to manage that transcript to ensure accurate captions. Access Stream Features Hold onto your hat for this one! Stream is a video player for all videos saved in OneDrive or SharePoint. However, when you upload your video to MS Stream, those videos are also saved to your OneDrive or SharePoint. This is inherently part of the Microsoft ecosystem. Whether you saved to OneDrive, SharePoint, or Stream, open your videos in the Stream player to locate the control panel with all the feature options. Transcript Controls Once you're viewing a video in Stream, and have opened the Video Settings, you can generate, manage, and edit your transcript. Generate a Transcript To ensure your videos are captioned: Select the Transcript and captions option and click Generate. Select your video's language and click Generate again. Select the language your video is predominately spoken in. If this language differs from those spoken in the video, the final transcript and captions may need to be edited and might contain errors. If you see a Transcript button in your control panel, and don't see a Generate button, this means Microsoft handled generation for you. While your captions and transcript are generated, you can check the progress via the Transcripts and captions tab. Once they're done, you'll see an 'On' switch next to the video language. Depending on the length of your video, captions can take seconds to several minutes to generate. You do not need to monitor the process and can close the tab and/or video and come back later. Manage a Transcript In the Transcript and captions tab, you can click the three dots to download your video transcript, replace the current transcript, or delete it. Edit a Transcript It's important to review your transcript for accuracy to have quality captions in your videos. This is due to the occasional issue of automatic generation getting phrases, acronyms, terminology, or pronunciation wrong, Click the Transcript menu on your video page after generation is complete. Hover over a block of text and click the Edit button Make your changes and click the Done button Captions in MS Stream Video